𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

two.

CHAPTER TWO
inside scoop

Lucious

next day

It was a beautiful morning, with the sun shining weakly and a cool breeze blowing. Lucious and three of his children were seated at the dining table, with Lucious at the head of the table, as a person of his stature should be. Juanita had made a delicious meal for them, and they were enjoying it. Andre was the only person absent because he owned a house with his wife Rhonda.

"This meal is fantastic, Juanita," Lucious commended.

"Thank you, Mr. Lyon."

"I bet Ma can't cook like this." Hakeem snickered and stuffed his fork into his mouth, shaking his head.

Lucious sat there watching Jamal drink his orange juice, his gaze fixed on his brother as he swallowed. He placed his cup on the coaster, clearly annoyed by what had been spoken about Cookie. "You mention Ma a lot for someone who hates her."

Lucious was now giving Jamal the side eye, not understanding why he was defending that woman. Leave it up to Jamal to do that, though. The boy never ceased to irritate Lucious.

"Whatever, mama's boy." In an attempt to enrage Jamal, Hakeem exaggerated each of those words. Jamal scoffed, his tongue swiping across his bottom lip as he averted his gaze. Hakeem didn't stop there. "It's not my fault your role model was arrested. And, by the way, you need to find a new role model."

Jamal must've had enough of the Cookie slander because he jumped to his feet and slammed his fists on the table. Lucious was ticked off because Jamal nearly spilled his drink, so he swiftly ended whatever Jamal thought he was about to do. "Sit your ass down, Jamal! You're not pulling hair at my dining table!"

Hakeem was the only one who burst out laughing. Jamal sat back down and spoke sarcastically. "Ha ha, pulling hair. Very funny."

It was funny, though. Obviously, if Hakeem was still laughing.

Juanita came in to refill Lucious' drink. She spoke politely and professionally. "Is there anything else you need, Mr. Lyon?"

"No, Juanita, we're fine. Thank you."

She walked away while they continued to eat. Lucious interrogated his daughter as she smushed her cheek with her palm and glanced up at the chandelier dangling above them. "So, Ro, what are your future plans? You don't want to be an artist at Empire, and you're not going to college, so what are your plans for the rest of your life? Because you're not going to live in my house, sitting on your ass while your brothers work their asses off," Lucious concluded. "Lyon's ain't lazy."

All eyes were drawn to her as she shuffled in her seat to sit upright. "I didn't want to be an artist because I wanted to concentrate on high school. But I graduated, so technically, nothing is holding me back."

Lucious smirked. "Oh, so you finally want to work for me?"

Royalty spoke tentatively. "I mean, I don't have anything else to do...and I love music."

Lucious mentally laughed since he knew she didn't want to do this. She never did, but she had no choice since she knew Lucious would kick her out if she said no. She'd never set foot in another one of his studios again. That was the last thing she wanted.